I have opened this topic about various events concerning Venus; annotate the conjunction with Uranus on day 22 January. The maximum approach 1.22° will happen at 21.05 U.T., but they will be near for a few days. A photo will be impressive to see the two planets, the first great and bright, the second minuscule.

The comet makes its closest approach to Earth (0.41 AU) on Feb. 24, 2009. Current estimates peg the maximum brightness at 4th or 5th magnitude, which means dark country skies would be required to see it. No one can say for sure, however, because this appears to be Lulin's first visit to the inner solar system and its first exposure to intense sunlight. Surprises are possible.

Lulin's green color comes from the gases that make up its Jupiter-sized atmosphere. Jets spewing from the comet's nucleus contain cyanogen (CN: a poisonous gas found in many comets) and diatomic carbon (C2). Both substances glow green when illuminated by sunlight in the near-vacuum of space.

This thread is meant as a reference for interesting astronomical events and suggestions for observations. This should include:

observable comets

meteor showers

conjunctions

occultations

planet transits

special constellations

Objects, that are there all the time (globular clusters, nebulae, galaxies, etc.) should not be suggested here. For starters, I have included the recent most interesting and latest still valid suggestions made by our frequent poster ricci70.

On day 22 July in Asia will be a solar eclipse. The duration of 6m39s is the longest of the century. An eclipse with same magnitude will happen on 25 June 2150, an eclipse with greater magnitude (1.081) on 05 July 2168. An eclipse with longer duration (6m55s) will happen only on 13 June 2132. An eclipse with same path (258 km) will be on 2 August 2027 and with largest path (260 km) on 25 June 2150.

Toward the end of September, the sun will turn a spotlight on the asteroid Juno, giving that bulky lump of rock a rare featured cameo in the night sky. Those who get out to a dark, unpolluted sky will be able to spot the asteroid's silvery glint near the planet Uranus with a pair of binoculars.

"It can usually be seen by a good amateur telescope, but the guy on the street doesn't usually get a chance to observe it," said Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near Earth Object Program Office at JPL. "This is going to be as bright as it gets until 2018."

Juno, one of the first asteroids discovered, is thought to be the parent of many of the meteorites that rain on Earth. The asteroid is composed mostly of hardy silicate rock, which is tough enough that fragments broken off by collisions can often survive a trip through Earth's atmosphere.

Though pockmarked by bang-ups with other asteroids, Juno is large; in fact, it is the tenth largest asteroid. It measures about 234 kilometers (145 miles) in diameter, or about one-fifteenth the diameter of the moon.

The asteroid, which orbits the sun on a track between Mars and Jupiter, will be at its brightest on Sept. 21, when it is zooming around the sun at about 22 kilometers per second (49,000 miles per hour). At that time, its apparent magnitude will be 7.6, which is about two-and- a-half times brighter than normal. The extra brightness will come from its position in a direct line with the sun and its proximity to Earth. (The asteroid will still be about 180 million kilometers [112 million miles] away, so there is no danger it will fall towards Earth.)

Skywatchers with telescopes can probably see Juno from now until the end of the year, but it is most visible to binoculars in late September. On or before Sept. 21, look for Juno near midnight a few degrees east of the brighter glow of Uranus and in the constellation Pisces. It will look like a gray dot in the sky, and each night at the end of September, it will appear slightly more southwest of its location the night before. By Sept. 25, it will be closer to the constellation Aquarius and best seen before midnight.

I"m buy my son a new telescoop, and the first whe look is the lonar and the Pole Star, i"m shock i see a black disk in the front of the Pole Star. I look two times and i explaine my son this is a moon. Is this correct?

In the night between 31 March and 1st April, from 23.14.37 UT of 31 March to 00.19.31 UT of 1st April will happen a very rare multiple event of the galileian satellites:
Io, Europa and Ganymede will be simultaneusly in transit with the shadows of Io and Europa.

In these days, and with the maximum approach the day 8, we can observe Venus Mars and Saturn in conjunction among them. The maximum grouping, visible in the evening of August 7, will be with the 3 planets in an area of only 4.7°.

On the day 8 September 2 asteroids, rare event, will pass between the Earth and the Moon.
The first (2010 RX30) will pass at 0.0017 A.U.; it has a diameter of 15 meters.
The second (2010 RF12) will pass at only 0.0005 A.U., but with a smaller diameter, 10m.

The events are very important in astronomy observation.
The Leonids meteor shower will send trails of shooting stars in the sky on the dawn of Nov 18th. This shower is created by the Earth moving through the debris of comet Tempel-Tuttle. The shower will peak at 2:45 am IST. Nikon Binoculars IndiaHowever, this year the moon is quite full and moonset will only occur around 3:30 am, therefore the shower will be washed out and not offer a good view.[/url]

If you to the homepage, and click on ZHR graphs, you can compare different showers from years back to 2006.
It's amazing to see how much more impressive a shower the Perseids were just a few years ago.

Another useful site is the "Fluxtimator", which predicts rates for a given shower and night for a location, and darkness of sky. It's run by real meteor researchers...

This month will happen the last 2 quadruple phenomena of the year on Jupiter, the double transit of satellites and the double transit of the shades on the planet.
The first event, on October 24, with Ganimede and Io in transit with the shadows from 14.36 UT to the 15.44 UT.
The second event will involve the same satellites the day 31 from 17h49m10s UT to 18h22m48s UT.
In practice the phenomenon is the sum of 2 events: considering the day 31 will be the double transit of the satellites from 17.48 to 18.23 while the double transit of the shadows from 17.49 to 18.28 UT.
A good occasion considering that on day 29 Jupiter will be in opposition and that this year is at perihelium.

The transit of Venus across the face of the Sun will be the most notable, or at least the most rare of the foreseeable astronomical events of that year. It will be the second one this century, and the last one for our lifetimes, unless you truly are immortal, which I am beginning to suspect.

Earth is going to be hit by a coronal mass ejection event starting tomorrow. It should be the largest in about ten years.
"Geophysical Activity Forecast: The geomagnetic field is expected to range from quiet to isolated severe storm levels on day one (24 January). Mostly quiet levels are expected through midday on 24 January when the anticipated arrival of the 23 January CME is expected to affect the field. Active to major storm levels, with isolated severe storm periods, are expected for the remainder of day one. By day two (25 January), field activity is expected to decrease to unsettled to active levels, with isolated minor storm periods, as effects from the CME wane. Day three (26 January) should see a return to mostly quiet conditions. "Today's Space Weather

I'm wonder if there's a chance to see aurora in WA state tomorrow night. Perhaps meteorwayne will comment.

It's good for real time monitoring of conditions; Kp 5 or above indicates storm levels, so wothe peeking at the sky (well at night anyway ) I'll leave the tab open all day, and see what happens, I can give you a 3 hour warning if anything's visible over here on the other side of the continent. It's supposed to clear up tonight for a change; might even go out meteor observing.

The storm hit just after 1500 UTC (Of course, that's 10 AM here )
Kp prediction for 1500-1800 UTS is 4.9, unfortunately, the link I posted above is not functioning (probably swamped with views). I have another one with much lower time resolution, I'll edit in in a bit later.

LOL, a non event here. Peak was 18-21 UTC or 1 - 4 PM here. By dark, a band of clouds was aligned E - W (Unforecast BTW). Crystal clear in the southern half of the sky, thick stratocumulus in the northern half. I heard the Cosmic Muffin laughing softly in the distance

LOL, a non event here. Peak was 18-21 UTC or 1 - 4 PM here. By dark, a band of clouds was aligned E - W (Unforecast BTW). Crystal clear in the southern half of the sky, thick stratocumulus in the northern half. I heard the Cosmic Muffin laughing softly in the distance